This invention relates to improved methods and apparatus for seizing and transporting bulky and irregularly shaped objects from one location to another, and more particularly relates to methods and apparatus for seizing and removing a stalled vehicle from a limited access highway and the like.
It is well known that traffic jams occur on freeways, and that most of these traffic jams are caused by one or more vehicles becoming immobilized so as to block one or more of the lanes during peak useage periods. It is obvious that traffic cannnot be unclogged unless and until the immobilized vehicle is removed from the freeway.
It is fully recognized by the experts in traffic management that the longer a traffic jam goes uncorrected the more impassable will become that highway. This is because the number of vehicles stopped by the obstruction begins to grow until preceding exits and entrances also become a traffic jam, it is seldom that the vehicle can extricate itself. It may not be possible to prevent vehicle from ever becoming immobilized on a freeway. However, the severity and extent of the tie-up can be held to a minimum if the offending vehicle can be removed from the freeway within a minimum period of time thereafter.
At the present time, however, and given the design of most freeways and other such limited access highways, a stalled or otherwise immobilized vehicle can only be removed by a tow truck. More particularly, the tow truck must often travel a considerable distance through the traffic jam before it can even reach the stalled vehicle, and it must frequently contribute further to the jam by a need to maneuver so as to properly engage the vehicle. Thereafter, the tow truck may also have to drag the vehicle a further distance through the traffic before it can exit the freeway, and this may also contribute further to the tie-up.
It will be readily apparent that if the tow truck or its functional equivalent could reach the immobilized vehicle by a more direct route, the obstruction to traffic might be cleared before it can develop into a complete blockage of the freeway. "As the crow flies" is, in theory, the most direct of all possible routes, and therefore it has been suggested that a helicopter or the like be used to reach and remove the vehicle creating the jam.
Helicopters have long been used by military forces to deliver and remove tanks, trucks, and other cargos to and from locations far more inaccessible than traffic jams on freeways. Furthermore, military helicopters and their operating personnel habitually handle vehicles and other loads which are far heavier and clumsier than most vehicles traveling on any freeway or other limited access highway. Nevertheless, the practices and equipment which are conventionally used to releasably secure military loads to these helicopters are not suitable for the purposes of the present invention.
In particular, a military-type carrying assembly is primarily intended for transporting a cargo to a relatively inaccessible location, rather than for pick-up and removal of a cargo from such a location. Accordingly, such an assembly is designed and intended for quick release, rather than for quick pick-up, and the carrying assembly may therefore be matched to the configuration of a specific cargo. For present purposes, however, what is required is a carrying assembly which can be operated so as to quickly but securely seize and lift vehicles having various different sizes, shapes and weights, and preferably without the assistance of personnel on the ground.
Another reason why military-type carrying assemblies are not suitable for present purpose is that military vehicles and other such loads purposes are usually sufficiently rugged that they can be lifted and transported without incurring damage in the process. Even in those instances where a relatively fragile load must be handled, there is sufficient time for ground personnel to specially interconnect the load to the carrying assemble to avoid such damage. Since the load is intended for quick release at the target site, and since the carrying assembly must usually be operated from within the helicopter itself, this is inconsistent with the needs of the present invention. In the present situation, what is required is a carrying assembly which is entirely operable from within the helicopter to seize the vehicle and without assistance from anyone on the ground and to be operable from within the helicopter to accomodate vehicles or different sizes, shapes and weights.